LA Weekly: 5 Art Shows to See in L.A. This Week

5 Art Shows to See in L.A. This Week by Catherine Wagley

Smoking in the grass

Downstairs at 1301PE, actress Sylvia Kristel holds a cigarette in a 16mm film that's being projected on a wall. Smoke rises against the lush yard in which she's standing. Artist Manon de Boer filmed Kristel, who died in 2012, in the Hollywood Hills in the early 2000s. The footage is quiet and the actress stoic. Upstairs, another 16-millimeter film plays. This time, it's iconic painter David Hockney who holds a cigarette and quietly smokes in his studio. Sometimes he laughs. Tacita Dean filmed him just last year and, over the course of 16 minutes, we see him smoke five cigarettes. This show, called "The last beautiful pleasure," marks 1301PE's 25th anniversary and drips with nostalgia — for a time when too many of us still found chainsmoking romantic. 

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Visual Art Source: Manon de Boer, Tacita Dean at 1301PE, Los Angeles

Manon de Boer, Tacita Dean at 1301PE, Los Angeles, by Jody Zellen

In "The Last Beautiful Pleasure" two films play in the darkened gallery space. Downstairs is a portrait of Sylvia Kristel by Manon de Boer; and upstairs, a portrait of David Hockney by Tacita Dean. What is striking in these filmed portraits is that both subjects are smoking and this activity — conscious and unconscious — is about so much more.

Their smoking functions as a metaphor for duration and pleasure. De Boer's short film "Sylvia, March 1 and March 2, 2001, Hollywood Hills" (2001-2005) portrays the French actress (best known for her role as Emmanuelle) outside, surrounded by nature yet tightly framed. As she gazes silently at the camera, smoke from her cigarette billows around her. Dean's "Portraits" (2016) depict David Hockney in his studio. He is shot both close up and from a distance as he inhales, exhales and casually flicks ashes onto to the floor without a care in the world. Although smoking is now looked down upon as a known health hazard, in film it is has long been accepted as a trope and an affect. In these films, Dean and de Boer investigate the visual power and pleasure of this activity.

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Cultured Magazine: 1301PE Celebrates 25 Years

1301PE Celebrates 25 Years

On April 28, 1301PE celebrated its 25th anniversary with an intimate dinner and two exhibitions at their gallery. On view in the main gallery is "The last beautiful pleasure," with work by Tacita Dean and Manon de Boer, including works on view for the first time in L.A.: Sylvia, March 1 and March 2, 2001, Hollywood Hills and Dean's Portraits. In the new viewing room, the exhibition "Life of riot at 25" depicts 1301PE's storied history through posters and postcards produced at the gallery over the last quarter century.

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